In sum, overall the project suffered an estimated 3-4 month set-back. We have requested supplementary funding for 3 months (one quarter of the total direct award or $47,500) to cover this setback by recouping lost time (postdoc and PI salary) and reagents and lab supplies required to recover experiments that were on-going at the time of the storm and to test (and remake, if necessary) reagents for future use.

Public Health Relevance

Environmental factors impact reproduction. This application follows from our surprising discovery that the environment can influence fertility by way of chemosensory neurons and a conserved TGF? signaling pathway in C. elegans. Our studies will likely benefit human health since the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying these controls are evolutionarily conserved.